Students settling into new schools

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This article was published 08/09/2022 (1261 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the first time in three years, Brandon School Division had the opportunity to start its fall semester with a normal orientation day that wasn’t overhauled by COVID-19 restrictions.

Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School and Vincent Massey High School welcomed Grade 9 students Wednesday, allowing the freshmen to adjust to an unfamiliar learning environment before the rest of the student body returns in full force.

“[On Thursday], when we officially start … there’s probably going to be 1,350 students here,” Crocus Plains principal Chad Cobbe told a crowd of freshmen inside the school gymnasium.

“So it’s very important that you took some time this afternoon to join us, so that you can get settled, so you know what this place looks like, you know where you’re going, so that you walk in [Thursday] morning and it’s no problem.”

However, unlike the last two years, these high school students were allowed to explore their new classes and sports facilities with greater ease, since the province dropped COVID mandates concerning masks, social distancing and remote learning in spring.

On Wednesday, Vincent Massey student council was preparing for a school-wide barbecue and scavenger hunt — activities that were off the table for the past two fall semesters.

Vincent Massey chemistry teacher Whitney Gordon said she has already noticed a difference in her students’ attitudes compared to the start of the 2021-22 school year, and she’s hoping this positive energy persists for the next eight months.

“So it’s nice to see band back and choir back and all our sports back. We’ve got our big Viking Classic volleyball tournament coming up in October. They had it last year, but we couldn’t watch,” she said.

“This is the first assembly we’ve had this morning in two years. It’s just nice to see everyone in one room.”

The return to some degree of normalcy was particularly meaningful to student council president James Li, who is looking to make up for lost time in his graduating year after contending with a bare bones slate of extracurricular programming throughout grades 10 and 11.

While he was busy helping incoming Grade 9 students acclimate to their new environment on Wednesday, Li said he has already hit the ground running with his football training and is hoping to craft some exciting activities for his peers.

“This summer, I’ve really gotten to see true Viking football, and I’m really excited to play some teams from Winnipeg,” he said.

“As [student council] president, I feel I have so much more room to do activities in school, because last year we really focused on fundraising and giving back because we really couldn’t do much else. There wasn’t a lot to work with.”

Cobbe echoed many these sentiments at Crocus Plains, telling the incoming students they shouldn’t miss out on the various opportunities that will come their way over the next four years, since time is going to “fly by.”

“And you’re going to have a much better experience if you jump in and join and take advantage of all the options and activities that this school has to offer,” the principal said.

Vincent Massey vice-principal Ashley Dyson said his administration will continue to keep COVID contingencies a top priority by constantly sanitizing high-touch surfaces and limiting crowd sizes in certain circumstances.

“And if [COVID] conditions change and restrictions change, then we’re prepared to pivot and adapt to that if we need to,” he said. “We’ve had a fair bit of experience with that over the past two years.”

The Brandon School Division consists of 24 kindergarten to Grade 12 schools and has a student population of approximately 9,000.

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